Rúben Dias

Written by Nuno Travassos, Catarina Pereira and Luís Mateus for A Bola:

The classy centre-back’s dedication to his work, on and off the field, is remarkable. A leader by nature, one gesture at the Ballon d'Or gala summed up his team ethic and generosity of spirit. Manchester City were named team of the year after winning the treble, and as the players went on stage to receive the award, Ruben Dias invited Ilkay Ilkay Gündogan to join them even though the German – who kindly declined the invitation – had left for Barcelona a few months earlier. Dias dreams of becoming champions of Europe with Portugal as well as City. “The least thing we can do for the country is eternal,” he says, but if that happens caution is needed with the celebrations: Dias's father left Noel Gallagher needing stitches after an accidental headbutt during the madness after City won the Premier League in 2022 on the final day, and more recently the player himself vomited on teammate Jack Grealish's mum's suitcase after winning the Champions League.